J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the most popular writers of the 20th century. His two most famous works of fiction, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, have sold hundreds of millions of copies and completely transformed modern fantasy fiction. In addition, Tolkien was a celebrated scholar, a professor at Oxford, and the author of the most influential article on the great Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf ever written.

The new Critical Companion to J.R.R. Tolkien provides a reliable, up-to-date, and encyclopedic source of information on this influential writer for high school and college-level students, teachers, and the general public.

Coverage includes:

A concise but thorough biography of Tolkien

Entries on all the novels, stories, and poems Tolkien published in his lifetime; all his published scholarly essays and lectures; and important posthumously published works, such as The Silmarillion, Roverandom, and The Children of Húrin, as well as the 12 volumes of The History of Middle-earth, published by his son between 1983 and 1996

Entries on related people, places, and topics, including places and concepts related to Tolkien's fictional world Middle-Earth, such as Balrog, Gondor, and Wood-Elves; influential literary works, such as Beowulf; friends and family, such as C.S. Lewis and Christopher Tolkien; and much more

Appendixes, including a chronology, a list of Internet sources, a bibliography of Tolkien's works, and a secondary source bibliography.

Jay Ruud is chair of the department of English at the University of Central Arkansas and is the former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of Northern State University. He is the author of Facts On File's Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature and Critical Companion to Dante. He has also written Many a Song and Many a Lecherous Lay: Traditional and Individuality in Chaucer's Lyric Poetry.